[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 71 (Thursday, June 9, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: June 9, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
          STOPPING DRUG SURVEILLANCE FLIGHTS IN SOUTH AMERICA

  (Mr. SCHUMER asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. Speaker, I rise to strongly protest the shortsighted 
decision made by anonymous bureaucrats at the Pentagon to shut down our 
air operations against the drug lords of South America.
  Stopping our surveillance in the Andean nations is unwise, untimely, 
and unusually dangerous. It was taken against the wishes of the State 
Department, against the advice of the officials on the ground who are 
on the front line in our fight against the scourge of drugs, and 
against the needs of our allies in Latin America.
  And--worst of all--it directly undercuts the Clinton administration's 
own drug strategy. That strategy is based on two major prongs. Cutting 
off the supply right at the source, and cutting down demand by wise 
drug policies here at home.
  I have been in touch with the White House to urge that this decision 
be reversed immediately. And I intend to offer today a strong sense of 
the Congress resolution asking that the President overrule the 
bureaucrats and get his balanced plan back on track.
  Drug use is apparently beginning to rise again in America. The South 
American drug lords are moving into the heroin business.
  This is absolutely the wrong time to make this kind of mistake.

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